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End of my rope...


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Have been trying to change my timing belt (including water pump and new pulleys) and drive belts for almost two weeks and my 06 Legacy 2.5i is still sitting on the jack stands... Between Christmas travelling and some stupid little issues popping up on the car, I'm fed up and about to hire someone to just finish it so I can get it back on the road. Anyone ever feel like this or am I just too impatient?

 

I'm just dying to get back in my Subaru instead of driving my wife's Prius everywhere... :spin:

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Depends on financial standing and mechanical aptitude I guess.

The quote I got for VC gasket R&R, while reasonable cost, it was still over half of our house payment.

So $44 in parts and 4-5 hours of work later (I really took my time as I was doing this "blind", car was a week new to me, and having beers) no more oil leak.

Now that I think about money like that, I've kinda accepted the fact that I'll be doing most of the work to her,excluding head gaskets if/when the time comes :)

 

PS- Working on/fixing stuff kinda turns the wifey on too, so it's like a triple win for me :cool:

Self proclaimed PNW Craiglist find of the day Champion, April 2014.
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Depends on financial standing and mechanical aptitude I guess.

The quote I got for VC gasket R&R, while reasonable cost, it was still over half of our house payment.

So $44 in parts and 4-5 hours of work later (I really took my time as I was doing this "blind", car was a week new to me, and having beers) no more oil leak.

Now that I think about money like that, I've kinda accepted the fact that I'll be doing most of the work to her,excluding head gaskets if/when the time comes :)

 

PS- Working on/fixing stuff kinda turns the wifey on too, so it's like a triple win for me :cool:

 

I definitely don't have a lot of cash to drop on it and I can work on cars but I've never taken on a large project. So it's not so much the aptitude as it is my attitude. Makes me sick looking at it sitting on jack stands now.

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if you paid a competent person to do it, it takes a couple hours max to do this job, and you'd have your car back and ready to drive. sometimes you need to live and learn. I've been down this road a few times with my lgt, there are just some things you should let others do, and there are some things that you can do.
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if you paid a competent person to do it, it takes a couple hours max to do this job, and you'd have your car back and ready to drive. sometimes you need to live and learn. I've been down this road a few times with my lgt, there are just some things you should let others do, and there are some things that you can do.

 

Count this as a LESSON LEARNED! Trying to be "that guy" that fixes his own car and gets it back on the road in the same amount of time as a hired mechanic has apparently not worked out for me, lol. Unless it's something minor, they can handle it from here on out.

 

No shame in that, right?

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I definitely don't have a lot of cash to drop on it and I can work on cars but I've never taken on a large project. So it's not so much the aptitude as it is my attitude. Makes me sick looking at it sitting on jack stands now.

 

I hear you there man. It's almost worst that way, huh? ;)

 

FWIW, my VC gasket should've been a 4 hour job for both sides, but it took me longer than that on one side and I had to split it up between 3 days.

Self proclaimed PNW Craiglist find of the day Champion, April 2014.
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Count this as a LESSON LEARNED! Trying to be "that guy" that fixes his own car and gets it back on the road in the same amount of time as a hired mechanic has apparently not worked out for me, lol. Unless it's something minor, they can handle it from here on out.

 

No shame in that, right?

 

lol! I couldn't agree more!

I always forget that they have the lifts, parts departments, and FSM's that I as a simple garge/shop mech do not posess :-)

Self proclaimed PNW Craiglist find of the day Champion, April 2014.
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FWIW, my VC gasket should've been a 4 hour job for both sides, but it took me longer than that on one side and I had to split it up between 3 days.

 

NO KIDDING. Jesus, it took me the same amount of time. I could not get that valve cover out of that confined space and I didn't want to use too much force... The problem right now is that when I pulled out the bolt on one of the idler pulleys, the STEEL bolt stripped the ALUMINUM threads for some reason. I am still pissed about it. On top of that, I was trying to line up the belt marks to the notches and it's off by one or two teeth... So, I'm stuck with no idea where to go from here other than calling up a few guys I know that work on cars to see if they'll come fix it without charging me out the ass for it since I've done the tearing down, etc.

 

Sorry about making this a "vent" but as the title of the thread says... I'm fed up, lol.

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You KNOW we've all been there OP :-)

Focus on the amount of money you saved by doing it yourself, that always helps me.

 

The labor portion for my timing belt etc was $180. Beyond well worth it. The mechanic (Subaru expert) called me back in <2hrs it was done. So he made money too.

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NO KIDDING. Jesus, it took me the same amount of time. I could not get that valve cover out of that confined space and I didn't want to use too much force... The problem right now is that when I pulled out the bolt on one of the idler pulleys, the STEEL bolt stripped the ALUMINUM threads for some reason. I am still pissed about it. On top of that, I was trying to line up the belt marks to the notches and it's off by one or two teeth... So, I'm stuck with no idea where to go from here other than calling up a few guys I know that work on cars to see if they'll come fix it without charging me out the ass for it since I've done the tearing down, etc.

 

Sorry about making this a "vent" but as the title of the thread says... I'm fed up, lol.

 

 

Ahh, thats a bitch, but I've done it before too.

Hopefully you can heli-coil it or find the bracket second hand if not.

The bolt prob just corroded a little bit and then galled and pulled the threads on the way out.

I use anti-sieze for anything that is disimilar metal and threaded when it comes to Automotive.

 

And up here in the PNW there are a ton of Independent Subaru shops around so most people use those instead of a Stealership.

I've never personally taken anything into the dealer of the car, whatever the Mfg. I'm a conspiracy therorist when it comes to dealerships, lol. I try to buy online after looking up the PN's as well.

Self proclaimed PNW Craiglist find of the day Champion, April 2014.
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The labor portion for my timing belt etc was $180. Beyond well worth it. The mechanic (Subaru expert) called me back in <2hrs it was done. So he made money too.

 

You're not helping here, lol :)

 

Besides, doing the Tbelt yourself has got to be worth 10-12 man points ;)

Self proclaimed PNW Craiglist find of the day Champion, April 2014.
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Have any of you ever seen or heard of the problem I mentioned with the marks on the new timing belt not lining up with the notches on the pulleys? If I line up the passenger side cam pulley notch with the mark on the belt and then do the same with the crank sprocket, the belt mark is off by one or two teeth on the driver side cam pulley. It doesn't line up with the notch but rather a red paint mark...

 

brain = fried.

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SOHC motor... Pass side camshaft pulley lines up to the second mechanical seam on the head, not the first, (the valve cover "spacer" if you will), a couple other things might help, get a big spring clip to hold belt on pulleys, remember the crank is slightly past 12:00, the line is like 12:04 clock position, remove the lower idler pulley(Pass side, bottom), Remove the cogged pulley that goes into water pump, when timing marks are correct(drivers side can be a bit high, when you pull the tensioner pin and PRY the tensioner down(not real hard, for about 20 seconds to let the tensioner extend), the DS cam will move a bit) Now roll the cogged pulley into position and get that bolt started/tight, reinstall Pass lower idler pulley, check timing, if all is good, pull pin on tensioner. Believe it or not, it's taken me longer to write this than to do it myself! Hope that helped.

 

Mac

 

LOOK HERE:http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/4th-gen-sohc-2-5-timing-belt-replacement-pic-intense-188814.html

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The labor portion for my timing belt etc was $180. Beyond well worth it. The mechanic (Subaru expert) called me back in <2hrs it was done. So he made money too.

 

Who's your guy? I'm in NH and am looking to find a reputable person if I need one. Or... someone who has a garage they would not mind lending out for a day or two.

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